THE NEW YORKER, NOVEMBER 30, 2015 65
attorney general, which accused it of
claiming that its products "cured, treated,
or mitigated" a list of ailments that in-
cluded cancer, autism, asthma, toxic-
shock syndrome, and attention-deficit
disorder. Carson has given speeches at
Mannatech events, and he appeared in
a regional public-television program
about brain health, sponsored by Man-
natech distributors, in which he stressed
the importance of glyconutrients. When
I asked about Mannatech, he said the
company had behaved in a way that was
"a little bit dishonest," by uploading a
promotional video he appeared in that
was supposed to be available only to sales
associates. But even now, when discuss-
ing the company's product, Carson can't
help but o er a sales pitch. "I use it every
day," he told me. "Since I've been tak-
ing it, the incidence of me getting sick
has dramatically declined."
Many of Carson's supporters are
true believers: they earnestly ex-
plain how he and no other candidate
could pull the country together. It can
be harder to detect what Carson him-
self wants. Throughout the campaign,
he has shown relatively little interest in
the specifics of policy. His tax plan is
more like a statement of general princi-
ples---he wants everyone to pay the same
rate, but he hasn't specified what that
rate would be. And his foreign policy
can seem like one long improvisation.
During a recent debate, he responded to
a question about Syria and Afghanistan
with a confusing claim that "the Chi-
nese" were active in the region; in the
days afterward, the campaign clarified
that Carson hadn't meant to suggest that
Chinese troops were present in Syria. At
times like this, Carson's insistence that
he is a reluctant candidate can seem all
too convincing---a few months before
he o cially announced, he told a med-
ical journal, possibly in jest, that he would
be relieved if he didn't win. Williams re-
members Carson saying, of the people
urging him to run, "Maybe they see some-
thing in me that I don't see."
Most Republican strategists main-
tain that voters will eventually settle on
a more conventional choice, chastened
by the prospect of President Carson or,
more likely, of another President Clin-
ton. But the rise of unaccountable PACs
has weakened the party élites, which
means that no one seems to have the
credibility to tell the Republican base
that nominating Carson might be a bad
idea. The increasing messiness of the
modern political primary has been, so
far, a Republican story; this is in large
part an accident of history. In Obama,
the Democrats have had a leader who
inspires loyalty. But in the next election
cycle, or the one after it, the Democratic
Party, too, may confront a base of vot-
ers eager for a candidate who has as lit-
tle a ection for politics as they do. Per-
haps sober, élite-approved Presidential
candidates, seasoned by decades of po-
litical experience, will come to seem as
old-fashioned as network news anchors,
and for some of the same reasons.
Carson is, even more than Trump,
the ultimate 2016 outsider. In the years
since the Prayer Breakfast, he has often
played the role of soft-spoken firebrand,
standing up for the core principles of
conservatism. But one sometimes gets
the sense that his ideological conver-
sion is incomplete.The Club for Growth,
a small-government think tank, often
criticizes the timorousness of the Re-
publican establishment, and it has been
critical, too, of this year's insurgents.
The group's Super PAC spent half a mil-
lion dollars on a television ad to tell
Iowa voters that Trump "supports higher
taxes." (The claim relied heavily on a
Trump tax proposal from 1999; the
Trump campaign responded with a
cease-and-desist letter.) David McIn-
tosh, the group's president, says that he
was alarmed by Carson's
suggestion, in a 2012 book,
that it was possible to "ex-
tract socialism's positive as-
pects and actually imple-
ment them within capital-
ism." (Carson was referring
to Social Security, Medicare,
Medicaid, and food stamps.)
McIntosh is not reassured
by Carson's frequent paeans
to liberty. "In the Republican primary,
'free market' and 'less government' are
the buzzwords," he says. "I think he may
be using those, but they don't really
reflect a well-thought-out philosophy
of the role of government." The group
says it is "unable to conclude that Ben
Carson would be a pro-growth presi-
dent," but its Super PAC has not spent
money attacking him, because it does
not view him as a serious threat. "As he
gets closer to the election," McIntosh
says, "people will say, 'I'm not sure he's
ready, yet, to be President.' "
Carson believes that readiness is over-
rated. "There's no one person who knows
everything," he says, and he is confident
in his ability to learn as he goes. But his
struggles with di cult questions about
governance have made that confidence
harder to credit.There are signs that his
popularity in Iowa is beginning to ebb---
some polls suggest that Trump has re-
gained a narrow lead there. Carson be-
came a front-runner by deploying his
motivational skills on his own behalf:
he inspired Republican voters to believe
that they could have any kind of Pres-
ident they wanted and that they did not
need to settle for a mere politician. Now
some of them may be realizing that there
is no alternative to politics---no way for
a retired neurosurgeon to become a Pres-
idential candidate without becoming a
politician, too.
In "Gifted Hands," Carson admitted,
"I don't handle failure well," although he
added a humblebragging clarification: "I
guess the Lord knows that, so He keeps
it from happening to me often." It's not
clear that he would regard an inability to
win the Presidency as a failure. If the
media interrogations grow too wither-
ing, or the polls too discouraging, Car-
son might happily return to a new ver-
sion of his old life, talking and speaking
a bit more about his journey out of De-
troit, and a bit less about tax rates or mil-
itary movements in Syria. In
the meantime, he is enjoying
the crowds and the adulation.
At a recent book event in
Lakeland, Florida, fans filled
the parking lot, and a book-
tour sta er climbed onto Car-
son's tour bus to photograph
the scene. A small media pen
had been set up near the por-
table lectern where Carson
was signing books, and he strolled over
to take questions. One reporter wanted
to know how he had been preparing for
the next debate. "By listening to your
questions," Carson said.
"Are they good questions?"
"Some of 'em are," Carson said,
chuckling, and then he walked back
to the lectern, to sell a few hundred
more books.